Imran Farhat opts out of Zimbabwe Tests

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan batsman, has opted out of the tour to Zimbabwe citing personal reasons. Farhat informed the national selection committee about his unavailability due to domestic matters that needed his immediate attention, which, ESPNcricinfo understands, relate to his wife's health issues. He has been replaced by left-hand batsman Shan Masood in the squad for the two Test matches.

Farhat, who was one of the five changes in the Test squad for this tour, was not part Pakistan's original squad during their previous Test series, in South Africa. He was called in for the third Test of that series as a replacement for the injured Taufeeq Umar, and scored 30 and 43. That was his only Test appearance since featuring in the 2010 Test series in England.

Masood, 23, made his first-class debut against Hyderabad in 2007 and has played 56 matches for his 3065 runs. The Kuwait-born Masood has been living in Karachi, and plays as an opening batsman for Habib Bank along with Farhat. He narrowly missed a double-century in his last first-class match, scoring 199, which is his best score in the long format. In the previous two seasons, he scored 846 runs at 33.84 and 1123 at 41.59.

A five-day training camp has started at the NCA with only bowlers appearing for the conditioning training sessions. The Pakistan limited-overs squad will depart for Zimbabwe on August 19.